Sweltering conditions no sweat for drag racers

Track temp reaches 137 on day one of Division V event at Heartland Park

The temperature was at triple digits Friday at Heartland Park Topeka, with the temp on the dragstrip reaching a sizzling 137 degrees.

But it was business as usual for competitors in the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series Division V Championships.

“It doesn't bother me at all,” Grand Rapids, Minn., racer Chris Bishop said of the toasty conditions on the first day of the two-day event. “It's what we do, so you’ve got to get used to it.”

Shawn Carter, a racer out of Park Hill, Okla., agreed.

“It doesn't matter,” Carter said. “We run in hot, cold. We'll take anything as long as it’s not raining.”

“Rain's no good,” Bishop agreed. “It makes for an expensive trip when you don't get anything to show for it.”

Bishop said extreme heat can affect the performance of race cars, but racers just have to adjust.

“It's pretty hard on any car,” Bishop said. “You just have to watch the track temps and adjust your car accordingly. Usually when the track gets hot it gets a little greasier and it slows you down quite a bit so you’ve just got to make sure you’re on top of it and make the changes.”

Matt Rose, who races out of Gretna, Neb., said racing is a matter of dealing with a variety of conditions, and he said hot is considerably better than cold or wet.

“You either do it or you don’t, and we don’t get to pick the days that we race typically,” Rose said. “All I know is I can race when it's 100, I can't race when it's zero, and we can’t race when it's raining out.

“We’ll take this. This is fine.”

The Division V championships will conclude Saturday, with racing starting at 8 a.m.

Admission is $15 and $5 for children ages 4 through 12. Children 3 and under will be admitted free with a paid adult.